A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 710 Turbulent Times

The sky above was ablaze with stars as Felix walked the streets of Cairo, Egypt, his form gradually shifting. He entered a wizard's tavern, and with his arrival, the once bustling crowd fell silent, a sense of unease spreading through them like fallen wheat in a field.

People are intimidated by his infamy from half a century ago, but fear is mixed with curiosity.

"My brothers, my sisters, my fellow wizards," a hoarse, aged voice echoed in the tavern as Grindelwald opened his arms, "I will end the chaos in this land—"

"In the name of the Grindelwald Code!"

……

The next day, Harry groggily woke up in his bed at the Burrow. Feeling dizzy, he fumbled around for a while before finding his glasses in his pocket. After putting them on, he looked out the window and saw that it was already bright daylight, and the sunlight was a bit too bright.

He pushed Ron's arm away, jumped off the bed, and looked at the time on the old watch on his wrist—a birthday gift from Mrs. Weasley, the watch originally belonging to her brother who had died heroically in the war.

"Noon," Harry uttered, feeling a dryness in his throat and a bit nauseous, guessing it was from drinking too much champagne the night before. He slowly walked downstairs, memories of the wedding surfacing one by one, and Harry couldn't help but smile; it had been a wonderful night.

After Professor Hyp told him that he was going to finish a biography of Dumbledore, the professor and Hermione left one after the other, and then reappeared on the dance floor; by then Harry had been talking with Ephias Dorge for a while, and after remembering the contents of Dorge's obituary, Harry's liking for him increased.

The two had a great time talking, but when Ginny passed by them for the third time, Doge raised his glass and urged him to enjoy the good time. Harry listened and quickly made an appointment with Doge for their next meeting. Then he pulled the impatient Ginny to dance. What happened next?

Harry tapped his head lightly, and as he passed Ginny's room on the second floor, he resisted the temptation to knock and went to the kitchen. He was immediately glad he had; Ginny was sitting at the table, listlessly eating breakfast (or lunch?).

"Harry, you're awake?" Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully, interrupting Bill and Fleur's sweet whispers across from her. From Harry's perspective, the two seemed to have become conjoined twins after their marriage, unless the Weasley family's finances took a sharp turn for the worse, forcing them to share tableware.

"Yes, Mrs. Weasley, I just got up," Harry mumbled.

"Ali!" Fleur greeted him warmly in French, "We're discussing vacation spots, come over and help us take a look."

Harry sat down next to Bill, looking down at the sketchbook that had been handed to him, filled with pictures of various beautiful landscapes. He flipped through a couple of pages, pointed to a cliff overlooking the sea, and said, "This one looks good."

“Really?” Fleur read the small print under the photo, a thoughtful expression on her face. “In Cornwall… I’ve never been there. It says that wild roses bloom everywhere there in the summer. What do you think?” She turned to look at Bill.

"Honey, we have plenty of time to go anywhere," Bill said gently.

Mrs. Weasley served Harry a plate of food, which made a loud noise as it scraped against the table. Harry sensed that she wasn't in a good mood and glanced at Ginny, who made a face at him.

"Where is Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked.

"They've gone to work," Mrs. Weasley said absentmindedly. "Percy and Penelope couldn't stay last night, and the house isn't big enough... I'm wondering if we should build a few more houses around here?"

"Mom," Bill said, "even if we move out, Fleur and I will still come to visit you and Dad every week."

Seemingly having her little scheme exposed, Mrs. Weasley waved the rag somewhat flusteredly and said, "Oh, yes, well, I was just thinking—there are always times when the family gets together—like yesterday's occasion, it would definitely come in handy."

Harry ate his meal with trepidation, but by the time Ron came down, the atmosphere had already calmed down, and he was munching on fried eggs and pies.

"Do you have yesterday's champagne?" Ron asked expectantly.

"No," Mrs. Weasley said sternly.

After dinner, Harry, Ron, and Ginny moved to the living room, while Bill and Fleur went for a walk. The three of them listened to the clanging and banging sounds coming from the kitchen, until Ron belatedly asked:

"What's wrong with Mom?"

Ginny sighed. "Bill and Fleur want to move out and live on their own. It was all agreed upon, but Mom wants to try a little harder."

Ron made a praying gesture.

"May Merlin protect her."

"By the way," Harry asked Ginny, "where's Hermione? Is she still sleeping?"

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"What are you thinking? She went to Diagon Alley early this morning. The radio said some Muggles were invited to experience the wizarding world up close—it's a kind of reciprocity. Hermione was on TV a while ago, I think she might be able to help," she said uncertainly.

As evening approached, Hermione returned, looking refreshed, and happily announced to everyone that the day's activities had been a complete success.

"I watched all day, and everything went smoothly except for one woman with freckles on her face who stayed in the beauty and potion shop and refused to come out, insisting on trying the potions inside—no runaway animals ran out of the pet shop, no books bit anyone in Flourish and Blotts, no goblins in Gringotts yelling that wizards were thieves, and no Quaffles in the Quidditch shop blowing someone's head off..."

Hermione rattled off a long list of dangerous projects, then let out a long sigh of relief, making Harry wonder if the places those people had gone to were actually not the same places he had imagined.

"Yeah, they're really lucky," Ron said sarcastically.

Hermione ignored his sarcasm and continued, "While those people were free, I chatted with one of them—you would never guess, she's from France! Even more amazing, she knows the professor, though they didn't get to meet today."

"Why?" Harry asked.

"You didn't know?" Hermione looked at Harry in surprise. "The professor has left England and gone to the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards."

……

The headquarters of the International Wizarding Federation is located in an unmarkable place on the northeastern border of France, nestled in the wilderness. From its inception, it has been protected by almost every known form of magic, ensuring its security and secrecy. The only problem is that access is extremely difficult and somewhat outdated. Felix only visited once, dazzled by the dazzling, layered magical light, before being taken to the nearby northeastern city of Strasbourg.

Strasbourg is France's largest border city. The city is located on the west bank of the Rhine River. To the west lies the Vosges Mountains; to the east, it faces the German state of Baden-Württemberg across the river, with the Black Forest just 25 kilometers away; to the north is the Agno Forest, and to the south lies the Rhine Plain.

Felix and Babajid Akinbad walked for a while along the scenic riverbank through a small area of ​​medieval timber-framed houses and Baroque sandstone buildings before disappearing onto a stone bridge.

Before them stretched a spacious, descending golden staircase. The sound of their footsteps was refracted and amplified by the walls on either side, echoing back to their ears. Felix carefully examined the various reliefs carved on the walls.

“That’s the scene of the first International Confederation of Wizards,” Akinbad said, pointing to a relief. “The president at the time—and the first president, Pierre Bonacourt—was French, and he chose this place as the venue for the conference.”

Felix was slightly surprised.

"I thought the meeting was being held at the federation headquarters."

"At that time, the headquarters hadn't been built yet, and the conditions were very basic, so they temporarily chose an open-air square. The fairy originally wanted to attend, but was kicked out. Oh, and Liechtenstein didn't attend either."

"I think it was because of the trolls?"

“That’s right, it’s because of the trolls,” Akinbad said confidently. “The wizards there have a tense relationship with some particularly vicious mountain troll tribes. They originally wanted to use the Federation’s power to hunt down the trolls, but Pierre Bonacoud refused.”

Felix nodded.

As the name suggests, this wizarding organization was initially defined as promoting cooperation among wizards from different countries in the magical world, with no involvement from other races. The president of the federation generally played the role of a mediator to resolve conflicts, with extremely limited power. Until the end of the seventeenth century, the idea of ​​secrecy increasingly became a consensus among wizards at the time, and after several weeks of intense discussion, the Law of Secrecy was born.

In practice, this important task was undertaken by the International Federation of Wizards. Subsequently, the Federation was rapidly expanded, establishing various subordinate departments to communicate, coordinate, and monitor the implementation of wizarding secrecy laws in different countries.

"Theoretically, this was just an office of the federation," Akinbad said. "Later, people found they preferred to work here rather than in a damp, deserted place, so a former federation president bought the place and completely sank the plaza where meetings were held underground. The stairs we're standing on are part of that plaza..."

"This city has experienced several wars and chaos. Wizards will retreat to their true headquarters and have wizards from nearby countries hide. Of course, we can't control too much, as long as the existence of magic is not exposed."

They passed through a circular hall, distinctly Roman in style—luxurious, magnificent, and with a spacious interior. The walls of the hall were lined with equally spaced rooms, each door seemingly facing the center of the hall, as if invisible lines radiated outwards. Tall stone columns and decorative arched ceilings flanked the entrances.

Along the way, Felix only saw two or three people, walking from one room to another, looking tired and weary.

"There are many people on this list, but most of them have their own things to do. They only get together when needed. I myself don't come here often. Usually, when there's a problem, I just pick a nearby place to chair the meeting," Akinbad said somewhat dejectedly. "A few weeks ago, there were quite a few representatives here discussing plans; even earlier, the Auror team responsible for capturing Grindelwald also gathered here, but now there are far fewer people..."

Why is this happening?

Because the federation could not come up with any practical solutions, everyone was too busy taking care of themselves to respond to the call, and the federation immediately became an empty shell.

"What are your thoughts?" Akinbad asked Felix.

"The first step is definitely to rebuild the prestige of the Federation," Felix said thoughtfully. "I need to travel around the world first. Please give me the title of special envoy. However, I may need to stay here for a few days first, look through the documents, and learn about the history of the Ministries of Magic in different countries."

Felix stood in the empty hall, looking around with an air of confidence. Akinbad immediately believed him; if he knew Felix's true thoughts at that moment, he probably wouldn't have been so optimistic.

"I can talk about black market information around the world in a pretty good way, but if you ask me about the history of these countries—if I had known this day would come, I would have definitely filled in that gap in my knowledge."

Well, Felix's Mind Hut didn't contain much useful information; even if he had seen it before, he had long since tossed it aside as trash.

……

In mid-August, Felix, who had been wandering around for half a month, returned to the school. In the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts Castle—"Three students have refused to enter the school," Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"Does this happen often in previous years?" Felix asked.

"It might only happen once every two or three years." Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment before explaining, "You know, even Muggle-born wizards, if they go back dozens of generations, their ancestors were likely wizards, and these families are unlikely to have a strong aversion to magic..."

Professor McGonagall snorted angrily, "We're not like the American purges."

"It might be influenced by the recent news," Felix said with a headache. "Hogwarts doesn't force students to enroll. If they firmly disagree, then we should secretly protect them. It wouldn't be good if an Obscurial appeared."

The outside world was in turmoil during this period, with many significant events, and many of them related to Felix. His name appeared in newspapers all over the world—both magical and Muggle newspapers.

For example, what happened recently:

A week ago, descendants of American purges approached law enforcement and handed over twelve children with magical talents, pleading with the authorities, with great malice, for them to uncover the secrets of witchcraft. These children were immediately placed under heavy guard, protected by three hundred heavily armed soldiers and modern technology.

The day after this incident, a wizard dressed in a black robe walked to the base entrance. He stood there quietly for a while, and the door opened by itself. A group of soldiers handed the children over to him. The man threw out a card and then disappeared with the children without saying a word.

The four soldiers guarding the gate ignored them throughout the entire ordeal. Aside from a photograph captured by surveillance cameras, the only clue was a card left by the mysterious wizard. It was confirmed that the image on the card was the emblem of the International Wizarding Federation.

The photos captured by surveillance cameras were naturally studied repeatedly.

Experts quickly discovered that this mysterious wizard was completely different from the existing information. He wore a hood, remained silent throughout, did not chant any spells, did not take out his wand, and did not make any gestures—he even glanced at the camera before leaving, seemingly intentionally leaving a profile view.

God knows how many people have been staring at Felix's straight nose and smooth jawline these days.

Seemingly under external pressure, the British Prime Minister sent an inquiry, but Amelia Burns firmly rejected it. Her response was repeatedly broadcast on television news in text form: Wizards are willing to cooperate and sign treaties to accelerate the birth of a new order, for which we have already proactively extended goodwill, but if it comes at the cost of harming wizards—wizards would rather choose war.

On the same day, twenty-seven descendants of the Purifiers died mysteriously in twelve different locations, and the police could not find any evidence of intrusion; also on the same day, the saints who had been silent gathered in Africa from all directions.

If later scholars were to study this history, they would find that this event was an extremely important turning point, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the relationship between the two sides. After two days of the strange phenomenon of outsiders arguing while the authorities chose to remain silent, both sides in the negotiations accelerated their pace.

Issues that previously required hours or even days of debate suddenly became trivial, with both sides tacitly making concessions. A journalist with inside information stated in an article that the public can expect to see the detailed contents of the draft contract within a month.

It seems like only yesterday that September 1st arrived.

School starts today.

(End of this chapter)